Harry Potter and the Harvest of Sorrow
by Piccadilly
Summary: Picks up from a final battle where Harry dies but is transported to a new life in a medieval setting. An epic fiction involving a powerful Harry with many powerful enemies in a struggle to survive through an odyssey of love and tragedy. Pairings undecided
1. The Duel and the Forest

**Harry Potter and the Harvest of Sorrow**

**Summary: **Picks up from an alternate Final Battle where Harry dies but is transported to a new life. Tries to avoid cliches of this genre, and create a new epic fiction involving a powerful Harry with many powerful enemies. A struggle to survive through an odyssey of love and tragedy. Pairings undecided and subject to plot development.

**Prologue. The Duel and the Forest**

Harry shivered. Opening his eyes, he stared at bright light, and after a fleeting moment of excruciating pain, quickly shut it close again. Slowly, he opened again and took in the sight in front of him. Bright Light. Everything was white, a brilliant shade of the color he had never even imagined possible.

"Where… where am I?" Grimacing at the hoarseness of his own voice, he propped himself up on his elbows and fell down with weakness. Once again resorting to taking things slowly, he supported himself with his hand and picked himself from the ground. With a sudden influx, memories came hurtling back into his mind.

_// flashback_

"_So we meet again, Harry Potter," a cold serpentine voice hissed and Harry stood face to face with the skeletal figure of Lord Voldemort, his nemesis of a lifetime._

"_For the last time, Tom. This ends today," Harry spoke quietly, marveling at the confidence and calmness in his voice._

"_Fool, this will never end," the voice laughed maniacally. "Do you not realize? The prophecy says only you can kill me and yet that is exactly what you can't do while a part of my soul lies in you. Harry Potter is the only one who can kill me but in order for me to die, Harry Potter must be dead." He laughed uproariously at the irony and several Death Eaters joined their master, resulting in a tumultuous din of harsh and coarse voices. _

_Harry shuddered. He knew what the Dark Lord said was quite true… but he had a plan - a last, desperate plan. "Tom Riddle," Harry spoke loud and clear, making sure his voice reached the ears of all present – Death Eaters, the Order of the Phoenix, Harry's Army and Aurors. "You are being judged. For the murder and torture of countless innocents, I charge you with guilt. For the corruption of numerous naïve and impressionable young minds, I charge you with guilt. For the desolation of England and Europe, I charge you with guilt." _

_After pausing for a moment, he continued in a softer and sadder tone, "For the murder of my wife and unborn child, I challenge you to mortal combat. Let the fates decide the outcome." He waved his wand and drew two runes in the air, an ancient and long forgotten rune – Baudh-amarth, the judgment of fate. Fate was called forth as witness._

"_A duel you want, fool? Then a duel you shall get! Let the world witness the final battle between Lord Voldemort, Master of Darkness and Wielder of the Silver Venom against Harry Potter, Child of Light, the Windlord."_

_Harry inwardly sighed. His hatred was spent and the only emotion he could muster for the lean figure in front of him was abject pity. To willingly come forth to destroy a seventh part of his own soul was a madness Harry could not bring himself to hate any longer. _

_Both waited as the rune grew in size, a large circle surrounding the combatants. The spectators stood mesmerized as the two most powerful wizards stood facing each other in what would be their seventh and final encounter. As the sound of a horn blasted stridently from nowhere and yet permeating the very air around him, Harry raised his wand and whispered, "Expelliarmus." _

_At that very instant, his mortal enemy shouted, "Avada Kedavra!" _

_Red light met green as green eyes stared fixedly on crimson, and a battle of wills ensued. Golden beads appeared in the beam of light and phoenix song could be heard full of grief yet hope. The abject pity of the younger dueler overwhelmed the anger and hatred of the Dark Lord and Voldemort's wand flew out of his hands in a spiral and straight into those of Harry Potter's. _

_A flicker of fear passed in the red eyes of the serpent lord and Voldemort shrieked in fury. And then he laughed._

"_You may have my wand but you cannot kill me, boy." _

_Harry sighed. The moment had come and there was no hesitation in his eyes. He had decided long ago and knew what needed to be done. Holding both wands in either hand, he advanced on his enemy._

"_Do you remember Merope, Tom? The mother whom you never met except in the memories of other people. Think of her now and perhaps the fates might yet show some mercy," Harry said in an emotionless voice as he pointed both wands at the Dark Lord and whispered, "Petrificus Totalus! Levicorpus!" Two jets of light shot forward and Tom Riddle found himself tied in ropes and floating in mid-air, and yet his laughter didn't cease._

_But then Harry did something the Dark Lord would never have expected even in his wildest dreams, and he stared at his adversary with eyes wide with terror. The raven haired warrior raised the wand in his left hand and pointed it at his own neck, the other wand unerringly fixed on the floating wizard. Harry Potter had a wand pointed at Voldemort and at himself._

_Raising his voice so his audience could hear, Harry said, "Tell the world that Voldemort is gone forever. An evil that should never have been allowed to grow is now ended. Tell the world also that it must now pause a second look at itself. Tom Riddle became Voldemort because the world allowed it. Social apathy gave him hate, pureblood mania gave him cause, ministry corruption gave him power and your fear made him immortal. The world made Tom Riddle into Lord Voldemort and put all their hopes on a mere boy. Great wizards like Albus Dumbledore, Nicholas Flamel, Filius Flitwick and Alastor Moody left the job to a teenager instead of taking responsibility on their own. Prophecies count for nothing. A prophecy has no power of its own and is only a recounting of a possible future, one that does not occur unless those who have heard the prophecy themselves strive to make it happen. That is what you did," he sighed, his voice devoid of all emotion. _

"_These are the last words of Harry James Potter - I now complete my task but do not expect the next Dark Lord to be defeated by another one year old. Farewell." Ignoring the screams of his nemesis over the rising din of protests from the spectators, Harry closed his eyes and gripping both wands tightly, whispered, "Avada Kedavra."_

_Flashback //_

"So, this is death," he whispered to himself. He gazed at the never-ending sea of white and shook his head. "Some adventure."

A merry laughter reached his ears and he turned to the direction it was coming from. Shocked at seeing nothing, he called out, "Who's there?" Another laughter came - the same voice, but from another direction. Then another… and another. Soon, Harry found himself surrounded by laughter and he covered his ears in pain.

The laughter stopped instantly and the white light swirled around him, shooting beams of color in every direction. Colors swiveled with light and Harry gaped as green grass appeared at his feet. Looking up, he saw trees springing out of the green grass. He was in some sort of forest. He walked uncertainly to a pond to have a sip of water. Before he touched the water, a voice called out.

"**Wait."**

Harry jumped in surprise and whirled to find the source of the voice. A frog came hopping towards him.

Harry gaped at the frog and looked around him once again. Not finding anything else, he turned to the frog. "Did you just speak?"

"**Of course I did, foolish human,"** the frog stared at him with what appeared to be mirth.

Harry scowled at him. "Well, hurry up. I am thirsty."

"**Foolish human, did you not just hear me speak? Does that make me an ordinary frog? And if I am not ordinary, then why should this forest or anything within it be ordinary?"** The frog hopped to a stone near Harry and hobbled up and down. **"You are being judged, human."**

"What?" Harry asked in surprise. "This is a mistake. I invoked the _baudh-amarth_ for Riddle. He's the one who should be judged, not me."

"**Aye, and he faces judgment even as we speak. But did you not die in the circle? Then judgment comes to you as well." **The frog transformed into an old man with a flowing white beard until his knees, clad in the dark robes of an inquisitor. **"Your life shall be depicted in the pond. See now and judge your own actions."**

In bemusement, Harry sat on a stone near the pond as the water swirled into life, breathing colors and images of his past. Life at the Dursleys, the Cupboard, the first letter, Hagrid, Diagon Alley, King's Cross, the Weasleys and Malfoys, the Sorting, the Stone, the Chamber, Moony and Padfoot, the time-turner, the Goblet, the resurrection, Umbridge, occlumency, the veil.

"**Stop,"** the frog-turned-man spoke in a commanding voice and the image paused at Harry's destruction of Dumbledore's office in his fifth year. **"What have you learnt so far?"**

Harry pondered in silence for several moments. Seeing his life from an observer's point of view put several things in fresh perspective. "My life… it was nothing more than a carefully laid out scheme by Dumbledore and his supporters. The abuse at the Dursleys, Hagrid's prejudice, the meeting with the Weasleys, Moony's sudden appearance just before Padfoot's…"

The wizened old man chuckled. **"****So, you see the truth finally. Continue.****"**

The water came back to life again and showed images of the war - the death of his friends and family and culminated at his last desperate ploy - the duel.

"**And now?"**

Harry frowned, and after a slight hesitation shook his head. "They planned it perfectly. I would kill Riddle but would have lost all desire for life. Did Dumbledore intend that from the start? I don't know what to think. At least, my wife was true to me."

"**And for that, she had to die. You have been judged,"** the man said with a flourish, jumping up, instantly transforming into a small boy of about five or six. **"And you are granted a second chance."**

"A second chance? At what?" Harry asked, bewildered.

The boy transformed back into the old man, and grunted, **"****Don****'****t they teach the youth anything these days. A second chance at what, he asks. At life, of course.****"** The old man smiled at Harry's expression.

"What? But I don't want to live, not in a world where everyone I love is dead… where everything I believed to be true was nothing but a fabrication to create the perfect weapon." Harry paused suddenly, a strange feeling rising in the pit of his stomach, "Wha…" he began when he felt himself shrinking in size.

The man laughed merrily. **"****And you shan****'****t. You shall start afresh. A new life. A new world. A chance to forge your own destiny, boy,****"** he peered at Harry, who had reverted to a teenager's body,**"****and you can do as you please. It shall not be easy. A whole new world. Different, so very different. But the same people.****"**

Harry barely heard the final words as he lost control of his vision and a blinding flash of white light overwhelmed his senses. And then all turned black.


	2. Tied by Blood

**A.N.** I hope you guys like this. Do review. I would love to hear your take on it.

**Chapter 1. Tied by Blood**

Harry stirred. Once again, he woke up lying on the ground with a splitting head-ache. '_What? Where am I? What happened?' _Confused and disoriented, he rubbed his temple while getting on his knees. Looking around, he saw green fields all around him. An endless sea of green from horizon to horizon. Standing up, he found himself with a completely disarrayed sense of balance and gasped on realizing he was not in his own body. Or at least, not the same body he had a while ago. And then the memories came tumbling back once again. The Duel, the Forest, the final words of the Being in the forest - a second chance, a new life, a new world.

Shaking his head clear of confused thoughts, he looked around for his wand but found none. Frowning, he tried summoning it with his weak wandless abilities but nothing happened. A sudden unbidden dread washed through him. He was alone and without his wand. His wand had always been a constant source of comfort to him all his life, a mark of his freedom from the Dursleys and he felt lost without it. Standing up, he wandered aimlessly in a daze and found himself stopping near a stream. The cool rush of water brushed against his ankles and almost involuntarily, he smiled. The water was refreshing.

With a slightly clearer and calmer mind, he closed his eyes and plunged into the core of his being. Nicholas Flamel had taught him the secrets of sorcery, the art to controlling the elements, or rather _an element._ Reaching into his core, he found what he was looking for and smiled in relief. Even without his wand, he was still far from defenseless. He was a true Sorcerer, one with the nature of his world and this new world as well. He was Harry Potter, the Windlord.

Then he opened his eyes and gasped. The reflection that stared back from the water startled him. His scar had disappeared. Smiling, he realized he had indeed defeated Voldemort and regardless of this new world's condition, he was no longer the chosen one. He would be free of all responsibility. He could lead an ordinary life. He could be normal.

The scar however, wasn't the only change. His features had altered completely and he no longer looked like his dad. That pleased him even more than the lack of his scar. In a drunken moment, Lupin had been accosted by Snape in Harry's presence and had revealed that James Potter had married Lily Evans under the effect of a love potion. That was how Lily Evans, who hated the very sight of James Potter suddenly fell head-over-heels in love with him. That was how Severus Snape lost the love of his life and was transformed into a vengeful and embittered man who hated the very sight of Harry Potter. And he wasn't the only one, for ever since the truth had been revealed, Harry had hated his own existence.

Though Lupin did convince him under Veritaserum that once Harry was born, James had stopped dosing his wife and Lily had enough memories of her husband's tender affection to stay with her baby, Harry couldn't forget or forgive the deception of his father and the lies that led to his existence. Above all, he couldn't forget the similarity between the lives of Harry Potter and Tom Riddle, perhaps another reason why Voldemort chose him over Neville. Snape would have surely told the Dark Lord of this.

Tearing his thoughts away from the past and back to the present, he noted his appearance with care. His hair was dark and wavy, like Ginny had always hoped their unborn son would have, but no longer messy, and it fell silkily around his face with a silver streak in the middle. '_Not unlike Master Nicholas,'_ he realized with a start. His eyes, he was pleased to note, were still the emerald green of his mother's. In his life, there had been three truths he cherished above all else - his mother, his wife, and his master, and he carried a bit of all three with him. All in all, he was pleased with his appearance.

"Good Lord, you're all right," a voice called out and Harry turned around to see who it was.

A frail youth about fifteen or sixteen years of age came in view. His face was full of wonder and relief. He had a few leaves and herbs in his hands, which had dropped to the ground on seeing Harry stir, and now he was standing transfixed. There was something familiar about his face that Harry couldn't quite place. With a smile, the youth ran forward shouting, "Gave me the scare of my life, you did, Harry. Come on, we best be off before they come looking." And then it hit him.

"D-Dudley?"

"Lord, Harry! Are you all right? You look like you have seen a ghost," the youth was speaking with tremendous concern. Behind the ragged features of a boy who had clearly experienced great hardship early in his life, Harry could recognize the features of the cousin who had once hated him with every fiber of his being. The difference however, was astounding. Apart from the obvious reduction in size and increase in muscle, this youth had suffered much and Harry couldn't relate to the look of affection and care from his cousin.

"W-What happened? Where am I?" he asked in bemusement. '_New world, new life, different people__…__ just how different is it?'_

"Lord, do you remember nothing? I was hoping that you… that you could tell me," his voice had become hoarse, a sad whisper and his eyes dampened. He took a step back, almost as if recoiling from Harry, "Do you not remember who killed mum and dad?"

"Killed?" Harry asked, completely aghast. He had never cared much for his Aunt Petunia and her monstrous husband and he didn't know just how different they were in this world, but he would never have wished for their deaths. "What are you talking of? I… I don't…"

"Listen, I will tell you what I know. Maybe that will help you remember," Dudley interrupted and seeing his cousin nod in agreement, continued, "I had gone to hunt. You and dad were busy with the harvest. He told me not to go too far but I was chasing a stag and was led astray. It led me to the forest, and then disappeared from sight. I was tired and rested awhile before returning." His voice trailed off and a drop of tear fell from his eyes. Unable to help himself, Harry laid a hand on the boy's shoulder comfortingly, as he continued, "The cottage was… the cottage was burning. I ran in and saw you on the floor. Mum and dad were nearby. They were… they were dead. You were unconscious, but still alive. I dragged you out and have been carrying you since."

By then Dudley was crying silently but Harry's thoughts were completely astray. "_Hunting? Harvest? Cottage? Who the hell still hunts for food? And__…__ a life debt to Dudley?"_

Composing himself somewhat, he said the only thing that he could. "I… I don't remember much, Dudley. It's like my memories have all disappeared. I… I don't even recall anything about myself, other than my name."

Wiping his tears, Dudley looked at him in concern and to Harry's complete shock, gave him a hug. "Don't worry, cousin. We will get by. It must have been one of those…" his eyes shot around as if searching for an eavesdropper. On seeing no one else, he said in a low voice, "_Great Ones._"

On seeing no reaction from Harry at the title, Dudley sighed. "You really don't remember anything, do you? Come on, we had best be off. If they are about, it's not safe for us to stay. We must make for Potterton. We can talk while walking."

Harry got up with a little effort. His muscles were sore, a fact he hadn't noticed earlier in his desperation to find his wand and then his amazement at his own appearance and the sudden emergence of his cousin. Not knowing what else to do, he followed his cousin. It was then that Harry first observed their surroundings with care. Green fields stretched from horizon to horizon, with some trees scattered here and there. The fields were wild and untamed by man. The sun was low and in front of them, a throbbing dark yellow that loomed ominously and from Dudley's tale, Harry could determine that it was nearing dusk and they were traveling West.

"Where are we going, Dudley?" he asked after several minutes of hiking through the fields.

"I told you… Potterton."

"Where is that?" Harry asked.

Dudley turned and gaped at his cousin for an instant, before shaking his head. "What exactly do you remember? Yesterday? No? Your birth? No… Then that's where I should start." He took a deep breath and began, "Our mothers were sisters. One day they were running around with their kite when a nobleman appeared with his entourage. He was enchanted by Aunt Lily's beauty and bought her from Grandpa."

"_Bought_ her?" Harry asked in a dangerous voice.

Dudley raised an eyebrow. "Well, he could have just carried her off but this nobleman wasn't as bad as most others. Lord Potter is known for his kindness," he said eagerly, but then his voice faltered, "though his sons are somewhat wild. Rumors were heard of Lord Potter's older son James being smitten by Aunt Lily and he took her to his bed. Then a year later, they sent you in a basket to Grandpa Evans' doorstep. Dad was visiting and he took you in since Grandpa was too old to look after you. We've been like brothers ever since."

"So James Potter is my father," Harry mused thoughtfully but was interrupted by a sharp intake of breath. He turned to his cousin and was startled by the look of fear in his eyes. He looked curiously at his cousin, unsure of why his harmless words would have such an effect on his him.

"_Don__'__t! _That is the sort of talk which will get us killed," Dudley said sharply. Then realizing his cousin's lack of memory, he sighed again. "Lord! You don't even remember the ways of our people! It's almost as if… as if, it's a different you altogether!"

Harry averted his gaze, startled by the veracity of his cousin's outcry and said in a low voice, "Sorry."

Dudley shook his head. "Don't call him that ever again! Not unless you're willing to face all his purebred sons in duel! Don't you get it? You're the eldest! If you call yourself a Potter… you - the son of a slave, they'll kill you! And don't even think of yourself as a Potter in the hearing of Lord Henry Potter!" Shaking his head and resting on a stone by the brook nearby, he took a small sip of water from a round bottle and passed it to Harry. "No, Harry. I'd rather you be alive and a pauper than a dead nobleman. You're all I have left! "

Harry was struck by the desperation in Dudley's voice. He still couldn't get himself to fathom the extent of their relationship. Like brothers, Dudley had said. '_This is Dudley as he could have been, cousin and brother,'_ Harry thought.

"It is rumored that James still favors Aunt Lily after all these years, despite being married to Lady Sarah, youngest daughter of Lord Greengrass. Perhaps he will show some kindness to her son and nephew. Please remember always… you are Lily's son, and Lily's son alone. We'll be lucky to be given enough gold to start our own trade, or at the very least to buy a couple of swords and enter the service of the Household Guard."

'_Have I plunged into the middle ages?'_ Harry thought in confusion. He was finding this world stranger by the minute. Feeling lost and his head in a turmoil, he thought, _'I wish I had my wand.'_

Just then a flash of fire occurred overhead making both the boys jump. Harry stared in wonder at the first truly familiar sight in this new world - the beautiful red and gold plumes of a phoenix. Fawkes had appeared. The phoenix stared at each boy for a few seconds and then jumped on Harry's outstretched arm.

'_Hello fawkes. It is good to see you,' _Harry sent mentally to the phoenix and smiled at the bird's confused trill.

"Harry," Dudley began but was ignored by both his cousin and the strange bird, which kept on trilling in confusion and disarray.

'_We were once friends in a land beyond space and time,'_ Harry answered the bird._ 'You saved my life after I avenged the death of your first master, Godric the Griffin, by slaying the Great Serpent. Since then we have had a minor bond. I was sent here after my death.' _

The phoenix trilled softly, as if considering Harry's words before leaping up to his shoulder in acceptance, making Harry smile.

'_I need your help. Is Dumbledore your current master?'_

"Harry, what are you doing? Stay away from that bird!" Dudley's voice had become frantic but Harry paid no heed, his attention fully on his old friend.

Fawkes trilled in surprise at the mention of Dumbledore and stared at Harry curiously but just then Dudley waved his hand at the bird, making the phoenix leap into the air in surprise.

"It is a spy of the Great Ones! Go away! Leave us alone!" he yelled as he tried shooing off the highly affronted phoenix.

"Stop it, Dudley. He's a friend," Harry said lightly. _'Fawkes, I am new to this world and completely lost, but I am a wizard. I need a tail feather from you.'_

"How can you tell, Harry? Harry! Are you talking to it?" Dudley asked in shock and sudden realization and more than a little fear.

The phoenix trilled in acceptance and dropping a tail feather, disappeared. Oblivious to Dudley's startled and fearful expression, Harry stroked the beautiful red feather tenderly feeling a semblance of the same rush of magic that his old wand used to bring him. Just then he heard a sound from beside him and was startled to see his cousin kneeling on the ground with his hands on his face, crying and rambling.

"You know! You're going to hate me now… mum told me… she didn't want you to know… she thought you'd leave and go on some foolhardy quest to save Aunt Lily… and die. She… I'm sorry, Harry… I should have told you earlier," he wasn't making much sense but Harry began to get a gist of his fear.

"What are you talking about, Dudley? What should you have told me?" he asked softly. Sure, he had hated Dudley and Dudley's parents one time, but this was a different life and in this life, Dudley seemed to honestly care for his freak cousin. It was a bit strange, but the war had made Harry grow up. He was no longer the rash Gryffindor he used to be. He touched Dudley's shoulder and patted his back. "I wont hate you, I promise. What should you have told me?"

"That… that you're not ordinary like the rest of us. You're a Great One. You… you… I don't want to lose you too, Harry. Not after mum and dad… please don't leave me," he was weeping disconsolately.

Harry sighed. "I'm not leaving you, Dudley. I don't even know where to go or what a Great One is. I don't have anywhere to go except where you're taking me."

"B-But you'll get your memory back someday. And then you'll have no reason to stay behind with your weak and ordinary cousin."

Harry sighed in frustration. This life was getting stranger by the minute. His parents alive. The Dursleys caring. Slavery and swords. And to top it all, a situation where he had to convince Dudley Dursley that he wouldn't be leaving him alone.

"Dudley," Harry said kindly with a hand on his cousin's shoulder, "You said we're like brothers, didn't you? We're tied by blood. Then how could I abandon my brother so easily? Do not fear unnecessarily."

After a few minutes, Dudley was convinced of not being abandoned by his last remaining family and they resumed their journey. Through fields and woods, hills and valleys, Harry was amazed how well Dudley seemed to know the route. This, he later realized, was due to his cousin's love for hunting. Dudley would travel entire weeks on hunt to bring back food for his family. This was indeed a strange world to Harry Potter.

Harry had stopped at the forest long enough to find a nice Oak tree. He cut out a live branch and with Dudley's dagger, made it hollow inside. After several attempts, he finally had one which appeared satisfactory. Pushing the feather given by Fawkes inside, he melded the ends with sap from a nearby tree. Finishing his work in an entire evening as Dudley observed with fascination and a little fear, Harry picked up his wand and pointed at a boulder.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" and the boulder shot up ten feet high. Harry smiled and let it drop with a resounding noise. The wand wasn't as good as his first one, but more than an acceptable replacement. He noted the wonder and fascination in Dudley's eyes as he did the magic, but his cousin kept his thoughts to himself.

Over the course of their journey, Harry tried finding out more about the world he had landed in. Unfortunately, the Dursleys were mere farmers and knew little more than their own role in the society. But from what they knew, Harry could make out that the political system was strange and full of complexities. The land was divided into estates ruled by Houses, and Harry recalled some of these names as the prominent pureblood families of Britain. The others, he figured would be from abroad. Within their own estate, the Lord of the House had supreme authority. His word was law and his whims commanded the life of his people.

Harry was appalled to discover that slavery still existed, but not as widespread as he had feared. Often several of the Houses would erupt in battle and the victorious could take the non-magic people from his vanquished enemy's estate as his slaves. The non-magic people of their own estate, however, were treated as common folk, serfs, merchants. Lord Potter had seized the estate under the Rookwoods where the Evans tilled the land and so he took Lily Evans for his Household. The Dursleys however, were already part of the Potter's estate, and Dudley was leading them to Potterton, the chief city of the estate.

Harry was curious to learn about his own role in the society and found out that children sired on slaves and courtesans by members of the Ruling Family were not considered part of their family, and only an alliance with a noble family from another House could yield in acceptable heirs. And for a son of a slave to declare himself part of the Ruling Family would result in a duel, which would result in the death of the slave. Sometimes, the Ruling Family would marry the offspring of their own vassals if a bond of friendship and love had been formed during childhood. Lord Potter had several vassals - Lupin, Diggory, Weasley and Lovegood being the prominent ones.

Apart from this, there was the Emperor Under the Sun. All estates were part of the Great Empire Under the Sun although the Emperor's jurisdiction was limited to interactions between the Houses. What the Lords did in their own lands was a personal affair. The current Emperor, to Harry's great amusement, was Emperor Cornelius.

Finally, there was the independent establishment of the Great Ones, beyond the jurisdiction of the Empire and above all Houses. The Great Ones were a law unto themselves and lived in the Hidden castle of Hogwarts under Albus Dumbledore. It was an order of Druids, Sorcerers and Mages - the greatest and most powerful among them. Each of the Noble Houses, Harry realized, were magical but only a certain few rose to become Great Ones. Dudley didn't know why or how they were chosen, except that they were to be revered… and feared.

Harry had been fascinated by this accounting. This world seemed so surreal to him, as if it were an alternate reality where magic had never been hidden. With a start, Harry realized that he probably wasn't too far off the mark. After the witch killings in the medieval ages, there must have been a magical backlash on the ordinary people and with beliefs on pureblood supremacy, such a complex structure emerged. He shook his head. All the advancements in science and technology, the beliefs of human rights and civic duties… none of them existed in this world.

It had been three days since his arrival to this world and Harry wasn't sure if he really liked it. Many times he thought he might have been sent to make the necessary changes to bring the world back to how it should be, but every time he thought that, he faced a greater dilemma. _'What if this is how the world was truly meant to be? No science means no nuclear wars… no weapons of mass destruction. And a society governed by magic means no terrorism.'_

He had tried asking surreptitiously, but Dudley had no idea bout Dark Lords of evil Great Ones. To him, a simple farmer's son, Great Ones were just that - a single entity that were above everyone else and had a right to be obeyed and feared. In the end, he decided to determine more about this world. To try and experience it, and see if he could fit in.

But he couldn't argue that having Dudley as a brother was something new and oddly pleasant. Pulling his wand out, he cast a warming charm on Dudley and himself, and ignored his cousin's exclamation of surprise.

"Don't be surprised, cousin," Harry said with a smile. "It is just a tool. Just like the dagger you use."

Dudley looked unconvinced. "No dagger can remove the very chill from my bones. I do not trust it, but I will trust your trust in it. And it is nice to be warm. I wish I had my bow. Then I could find us some nice, juicy rabbit."

Harry smiled, and aiming his wand at a piece of broken wood, transfigured it to a bow. Several long and fine arrows lay beside it.

"You know," a wide-eyed Dudley declared after several seconds of observing the fine weapon in wonder, "I could get used to this."

'_And therein lies the problem_,' Harry realized with a start, surprising even himself with his keen insight, '_too much magic before muggles and they become over dependent on it, forgetting that though it is a tool, it is not for them. They shouldn't become dependent on magic.'_ Out loud, he said, "Don't lose the bow. I don't think I can do it many times."

While Dudley was hunting, Harry was experimenting with his own abilities. The wand was functional and had no flaws in it, though Harry did feel a slight hollowness which could be explained by his own amateurish skills at wand making, or perhaps the very nature of this world. At least, he was glad to note, his control over air and wind had not waned by the slightest.

Closing his eyes, he concentrated and summoned a gale of wind to lift him. Hovering several feet above ground, he plucked an apple from a tree half a mile away and brought it flying towards him.

'_Aah, gravity!'_ Harry thought with amusement. _'What goes up must come down, unless Master Nicholas has had his foul ways with you.'_ Then suddenly a thought occurred to him, _'Master Nicholas!'_

Was the old Alchemist and Sorcerer still alive in this world? Few people knew it but the sole reason why the Alchemist had lingered on for several centuries was his love for muggle music. While the performing arts in the magical world stagnated over time, the changes in muggle culture had greatly interested Nicholas Flamel and his wife. They would, without remiss, go for every new musical and opera. He had even, as he once told Harry, been to Woodstock and seen Jimi Hendrix perform. Without his love of music, Harry was suddenly saddened by the thought that his beloved Master might have passed on earlier. Nicholas Flamel, who had cheated death several times, the last of which was by providing Dumbledore with a fake Philosopher's Stone, might not have even lived to be two hundred.

Sighing, he lowered himself on the ground and took a bite of the apple. It was sweet and Harry finished it hungrily. Then with a flick of his finger, he cleared the ground near him with a strong burst of wind and lowered himself. Dudley had said he might not be back that night and Harry had no desire in moving on without his cousin when it was clear that he knew the lay of the land much better. The solitude worked with Harry for he needed to get to terms with this new world and his own role in it.

The one thing Harry knew for certain was that his mother would not remain a slave to any man, even if it were his own father. He would free Lily. He would look after her. And he would also look after Dudley.

About James Potter, he had mixed feelings. Here was an opportunity for him to finally meet his father, although a different man in a different world, but Harry recalled the words of the Being in the Forest who had sent him here, _different and yet the same. _He would still be James Potter, father of Harry Potter. But Harry didn't know what to expect. On the one hand, here he couldn't blame James entirely for he was brought up in a society where he acted as he thought was right, but he couldn't absolve him of all blame in enslaving his mother. There was an odd pattern, Harry realized, about the similarities between both worlds. In his original world, James ensnared Lily's affections with a love potion while here, he ensnared her in a different way. But the end result was much the same.

In the end, he decided to take things as they came. James might have erred, but Harry wouldn't judge him without giving him a chance to prove himself. And if he came out short of Harry's expectations… Harry lay down, unsure of what he thought. After all, they were tied by blood.


End file.
